This short report explains the problem of intolerant equality laws and provides many examples of court cases. In addition it presents the 150 most striking incidents of intolerance against Christians in Europe in 2014.

This short guide seeks to answer three questions: What are the international and regional human rights institutions that exist around the world, why do they matter and how can individuals and organizations get involved?

Quotations

“Protection is one of the key elements surrounding any debate on religious freedom as a fundamental human right because it is intrinsic to the human person.” Archbishop Jurkovi?, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN

– , March 2017

"[There is a] crisis of religious freedom by the development of an aggressive form of secularism which seeks to condemn Christians to a marginalization in public life."

– Jaime Urcelay, May 2011

"I imagine many Christians today feel under threat... We don’t have to agree with them, but we must recognise their right to disagree with us."

– Roger Helmer, September 2010

“it is an infringement of freedom to require businesses to aid the promotion of ideas to which they conscientiously object. Discrimination against people should be unlawful, but not against ideas”.

"Excluding signs of Christian civilization from Europe does not make it a place friendlier to non-Christians."

– Russian-Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion, September 2011

"If you are a badge-wearing Christian, you are more likely to be marginalised more than any other religion."

– Peter Kerridge, Feb. 2012

“Forcing someone to promote a view that they fundamentally disagree with is the antithesis of a free and fair society.” Peter Lynas of the Evangelical Alliance on the Ashers Baking lost appeal.

– , October 2016

“The intention was clearly to violently attack this Christian place of worship. And two months after the assassination of Father Hamel, emotion remains strong in the Catholic community. To attack a church is to attack every Christian."

– Fr Nicholas Maine, on the desecration of Church Saint-Henri, September 2016

"These are worrying signs of a failure to appreciate not only the rights of believers to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, but also the legitimate role of religion in the public square."

– Pope Benedict XVI, September 2010

“To say to someone that Jesus is the only God is not a matter of truth. To the extent that they are saying that the only way to God is through Jesus, that cannot be a truth.” UK Prosecutor Ian Jackson at trial against street preachers.

– , February 2017

“They shout Quranic verses. These are words that IS shouts before they cut off people’s heads. I cannot stay here. I am a Christian.”

– A young Syrian refugee in Germany , September 2015

"In Europe, the concept of God is not just an abstract cipher, but it is significantly influenced by the Christian image of God."

– Bishop Stephan Ackermann, criticizing the removal of crucifixes from courtrooms in Germany, May 2016

“…the idea that Christian traditionalism menaces and encircles secular minorities is preposterous—as antiquated as decrying fluoride in the water supply, or motorized travel."

– From a letter threatening arson against Catholic blogger., November 2015

"The only religion the West permits criticism of is Christianity."

– Dennis Prager, July 2007

In many jurisdictions in Europe and North America, religious freedom can all too easily be 'trumped' by other rights.

– Roger Trigg, February 2012

"Hate incidents and hate crimes directed against Christians strike at the core values of the OSCE community."

– Lamberto Zannier, September 2011

“I am not Catholic, but I think there is prejudice and especially major anti-clericalism that is taking on enormous proportions in Europe.”

– Bernard-Henri Lévy, September 2010

“7 out of 10 Anglican clergy experienced some kind of violence from 1999 to 2001.”

– Independent Academic Research study, September 2001

“This verdict is a defeat for freedom of expression. As well as meaning that Ashers can be legally forced to aid the promotion of same-sex marriage, it also implies that gay bakers could be forced by law to decorate cakes with homophobic slogans.” Homosexual rights activist Peter Tatchell

– , October 2016

“Societies in which freedom of religion and speech flourish are more resilient, more stable, more peaceful, and more productive.”

– Hilary Clinton, Nov. 2010

“I am gay and I am atheist but... it seems to me that what we are doing is producing a tyrannous new morality that is every bit as oppressive as the old.”

– David Starkey, March 2011

"If the Catholic Church cannot distribute a booklet on Catholic teaching to Catholics, who can it distribute them to?"

"Does fairness and equality only apply to people who are non-Christians in this country?"

– UK House of Commons, M. Jackson, Feb. 2009

"We need to create a country in which people can be unashamedly proud of their faith – where they don’t feel that they have to leave religion at the door."

– Baroness Warsi, November 2011

“No state can define religious neutrality as treating religious organizations worse than everyone else. That isn’t neutrality; it’s a hostility to religion that violates the First Amendment.”

– ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman, January 2016

“Recent attacks on Christian communities have highlighted the necessity to address the problem of intolerance against Christians with a specific focus on hate crimes."

– OSCE Report, September 2011

Christians are dying because of their beliefs, because they are defenseless and because the world is indifferent to their suffering. Good people must join together and stop this revolting wave of violence.

– Ronald S. Lauder is the president of the World Jewish Congress, August 2014

It is “the task of every civil society to support religion, which allows a light to shine through, indispensable for living.”

– Pope Francis in Azerbaijan, October 2016

"My beliefs about marriage and sexual ethics reflect mainstream, biblical understanding, shared by millions around the world. Simply expressing that understanding, in a personal capacity, on my Facebook page, cannot be allowed to become a bar to serving and helping others in a professional capacity as a social worker."

Municipal services in Lourdes took two weeks to remove obscene drawings and inscriptions painted on the family home of the revered Saint, despite complaints by neighbors and an alert from the online journal “Lourdes-Info.” The perpetrators of the vandalism are unknown.
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